Best Practices Study of Museum
CD-ROM Production

1. Background and Introduction

1.1 Why Museums Produce CD-ROMs
1.2 Objectives
1.3 Study Methodology
1.4 Caveats and Limitations of the Analysis

1.1 Why Museums Produce CD-ROMs

In recent years, museums throughout Canada have been active in developing CD-ROMs for a variety of purposes. The CD-ROM is potentially a powerful interactive tool that can serve the museum's mandate and objectives in a number of ways:

•    Curatorial and Research — From a curatorial perspective, the documentation of a museum's artifacts on CD-ROM provides other researchers and audiences with a way to find information easily about important artifacts in the museum's collection. At its most basic level, the CD-ROM can provide a means of cataloguing collections or developing an easily accessible database as an alternative to developing print catalogues. Digitization also provides a long term compact product which can be an invaluable reference and research tool.

•    Educational — From an educational perspective, the CD-ROM provides a vehicle for museums to reach educational and home markets, across Canada and internationally. Many CD-ROMs are being developed specifically for the educational market. A large amount of literature is available now that points to the efficacy of computer-based learning relative to traditional methods.¹ Some French Immersion schools have even adopted CD-ROMs produced by Quebec museums as learning tools.

•    Canadian Content — Most institutions have mandates that promote Canadian culture or regional culture within a Canadian context. The development of some CD-ROMs with distinctly Canadian or regional themes is perceived to be valuable for its own sake, as well as to develop much-needed Canadian content for educational purposes.

•    Outreach — Museums are likely to view the CD-ROM as a way to achieve outreach objectives – most institutions have outreach related objectives in their mandates and view audiences, students and researchers as being beyond the local community including provincial, national or international in scope. As younger audiences are comfortable with computer technology, the development of an interactive product may help to attract these audiences. 'Outreach' could suggest more than overcoming traditional geographic barriers.

•    Tourism and Economic Development — Some institutions have developed CD-ROMs, in part, to support broader government objectives such as promotion of tourism and economic development. Clearly, museums are an important part of a region's cultural tourism infrastructure, and the production of a CD-ROM may strengthen the infrastructure and underline the museum's role in cultural tourism.

•    Technology, Exhibit Interpretation and Hybrid Uses — Investment in the digitization of a collection provides the museum with the ability to support other hybrid technology products, such as digital catalogues, exhibition interpretation technologies, Internet-based content, and future products which may emerge, such as digital video disc technologies. Museums are interested in the use of new technologies as a way to enhance and interpret the visitor experience. Several CD-ROMs reviewed in this study evolved from exhibit interpretation technology.

•    Technology and the Information Highway — Some institutions view themselves as playing a key role in the information highway and have received funding to this end. They have made investments in CD-ROMs and related technologies to support this objective.

•    Entertainment — It is not clear how many museums consciously or explicitly seek to 'entertain' as part of their mandates, lest this objective seem less noble (or fundable) than loftier educational ones. However, the CD-ROM provides an opportunity to entertain through effective mediation of good stories and an engrossing multimedia experience.

•    Financial Return — Museums are rich in content, but poor in earned revenue. The museum can view the CD-ROM as a means of generating additional income from the museum's collections and thus leveraging its asset base.

To date, Canadian museums have developed approximately 40 CD-ROMs and hybrid products. The scope, amount of information, level of interactivity, degree of complexity, and overall costs vary widely.

1.2 Objectives

Museums are likely to view their CD-ROMs as successful from a curatorial, educational or technical point of view. However, it is less clear to what extent CD-ROMs have been successful at generating revenues or an ROI for each institution, and to what degree this was envisioned by each institution when it decided to develop a CD-ROM. CD-ROMs are potentially very expensive to develop and it is not clear, given their costs, that museums can achieve an ROI.

There is a high level of interest in CD-ROM development in the museum community, especially interest in their perceived revenue generation potential. This study responds to this interest. The purpose of this project is to develop a profile of the best practices in CD-ROM production and to form recommendations for Canadian museums entering the CD-ROM market. Specific objectives include:

•    to profile the practices of Canadian museums and CD-ROMs in terms of their markets and sales, price points, distribution and marketing, and development and production

•    to provide an overview of the museum CD-ROM market

The intention of our research was to focus on the business case of CD-ROM production, rather than on the technical, design or museological aspects. This study addresses the potential for an ROI for those museums that are interested in producing CD-ROMs. It also presents the rationale of institutions that have elected not to produce CD-ROMs.

1.3 Study Methodology

The study methodology included the following elements:

•    Interviews with institutions and production partners — The main component of the research was a series of interviews with key individuals responsible for the production of CD-ROMs at Canadian museums. The museums were selected in collaboration with CHIN staff who made the initial contact. Generally, at least one interview was conducted with a staff member involved in the CD-ROM production at each institution. This information was supplemented by interviews with key multimedia partners. The selected museums were CHIN members who provided examples of the different types of CD-ROMs that have been produced. One organization, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), was interviewed to provide a perspective from an institution that, to date, has made a conscious decision not to engage in CD-ROM production. The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) was also interviewed to provide a US perspective. Individuals in the Smithsonian familiar with CD-ROM production were interviewed to provide general information. The institutions that were interviewed are as follows:

• Alexander Graham Bell Museum
• Canadian Museum of Civilization
• Dawson City Museum
• McMichael Canadian Collection
• Musée David Stewart
• Oregon Museum of Science and Industry
• Royal Ontario Museum

•    Data Compilation on the CD-ROM Market — We undertook a number of initiatives to obtain additional information on the CD-ROM market in Canada and the US. One of these initiatives was the administration of a brief questionnaire to some museums in Canada. These museums had produced CD-ROMs but were not interviewed for this study. The purpose of the questionnaires was to obtain additional data on costs, revenues and the number of units distributed. Three questionnaires were returned, and the data from these questionnaires was used to supplement data from the interviews. Additionally, we performed secondary research and conducted a limited number of interviews with individuals knowledgeable about the CD-ROM market in Canada and the US.

The research was conducted between October 1997 and March 1998.

1.4 Caveats and Limitations of the Analysis

The analysis is based mainly on a set of interviews with staff at museums who had been involved in CD-ROM production. It is interesting to note that the staff responsible for having produced CD-ROMs in the past often had limited knowledge of the CD-ROM project finances. The staff often had a good sense of the costs associated with CD-ROM development but had little knowledge of sales, which are usually the responsibility of other partners. In some cases, these staff members were reluctant to share information about CD-ROMs that are currently under development. Also, commercial partners tended to withhold their sales or financial information. We did not have access to detailed financial statements or financial summaries that outlined the economics of CD-ROM production and distribution.

Our analysis mainly focused on business issues rather than technical ones, although business success is more likely if the product is technically sound and of high quality.

¹ Industry Canada's Study on New Media Learning Materials showed multimedia learning applications produced cost savings potentially of 30:1 and reduced the time required for training by up to 50 percent.